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Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero
Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (also known as ) is the eleventh installment of the Ultra Series, produced in the United States in 1993 by Major Havoc Entertainment (later renamed Steppin Stone Entertainment) and Tsuburaya Productions with a total of 13 episodes. Following the footsteps of the Australian-produced Ultraman: Towards the Future, this was the second live-action Ultra series produced outside Japan. Titled Ultraman Powered for Japanese release, the show was released on home video there on December 17, 1993, and later aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 8 to July 1, 1995. However, despite being produced in America, the show was never broadcast there. Although having impressive costume designs, the action was quite weak compared to other installments of the Ultra Series, due to the costumes being fragile. After this series, Tsuburaya has since focused on domestic productions. Production Veteran makeup artist and Ultraman fan Steve Wang was briefly involved with the production of the show. He and his team created a miniature suit model of Ultraman which Tsuburaya approved. Sho Kosugi, who provides Ultraman's voice in the English version, is the father of Kane Kosugi, who plays Kenichi Kai. This is the only time that Red King is actually red (as opposed to gold & blue). Ultraman Powered's eyes are normally blue, but they change to yellow when his color timer is blinking yellow, and red when the timer blinks red. Plot The members of WINR (pronounced "Winner") respond when members of the alien Baltan race attack Earth, but the Baltans are only fended off when a gigantic alien, Ultraman Powered, joins with WINR member Kenichi Kai and gives him the power to metamorphose into Ultraman in times of danger. At the end of the first episode Ultraman declares that the Baltans were not completely defeated and that he will remain on Earth to continue the fight. WINR and Ultraman destroy numerous other monsters, but WINR learns that the Baltans were arranging all the battles to learn Ultraman's strengths and weaknesses. They also learn Kai's secret identity when Ultraman is injured by Dorako and Kai sports an identical wound. In the finale the Baltans unleash their most powerful monster, Zetton. Ultraman separates from Kai and takes on Zetton, but is overwhelmed. Ultraman's color timer is flashing more and more rapidly as he tries to blast Zetton only to have Zetton easily withstand the blasts. He then summons more energy despite the risk to fire a shot at Zetton's ship. This causes the shot to bounce off it towards Z-ton's back but he turns and blocks the shot. However this gives Ultraman an opening and he summons the last of his energy for one final blast that hits Zetton in the back, destroying him. Ultraman then falls over backwards as his energy is completely drained. Before he can perish completely, other members of the Ultra race, appearing as balls of light, arrive and convert Ultraman into a red ball of light so that he can return home. Characters Ultras WINR *Russel Edlund *Theresa Beck *Julie Young *Rick Sanders Monsters & Aliens * Alien Baltan (1) ** Psycho-Baltan (13) * Kemular (2) * Red King (3) ** Red King II (12) * Chandrah (3) * Pigmon (3) * Telesdon (4) * Underground People (4) * Gabora (5) * Dada (A, B & C; 6) * Aboras (7) * Banila (7) * Jamila (8) * Zambolar (9) * Pestar (10) * Gomora (11) * Dorako (12) * Zetton (13) Arsenal *Beta Capsule *WINR SHOOT *Rocket gun *HAWK *ROVER *Special submarine Episodes # # # # # # # # # # # # # Cast * : , * : , * : , * : , * : , * : (1), (13), (grunts) * : Suit actors * : * : , , , , , Songs ;Opening theme * **Lyrics: Goro Matsui **Composition: Kisaburo Suzuki **Arrangement: Tatsumi Yano **Artist: Tatsuya Maeda ;Ending theme * **Lyrics: Goro Matsui **Composition: Kisaburo Suzuki **Arrangement: Tatsumi Yano **Artist: Tatsuya Maeda *"STARLIGHT FANTASY" **Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori **Composition: Akihiro Yoshimi **Arrangement: Y2 **Artist: Hitomi Sudo Reception The show currently holds a 5.1 score in IMDB. One of the reviewers in IMDB says "Ultraman: The Ultimate Disappointment". Reviewers criticized the action & the weak suits due to Tsuburaya's refusal to increase budgets. Media The show spawned a video game, called Ultraman Powered, released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. Notes *Due to the high cost of producing the costumes, the American Producers were concerned that they'd be damaged in a violent fight scene. As such, Powered has some of the weakest fight choreography in the entire Ultra franchise, consisting mostly of the actors nudging each other and SFX attacks with minimal physical contact. This is one of the key downsides to this series. External links *'' '' at Wikipedia